Re: DC3 visit to our Southern skies

Steve

A lovely, bright and colourful set. For me, #5 takes the prize. A highly imaginative and effective composition. Love it.

We're left in doubt as to what the the main subject is - we don't need to see all of it. The contrast of the materials, colours and lines of the aircraft against the natural background works beautifully.

At first, I asked myself if the fence was a distraction. But, no it's not. It helps set the scene of an aircraft of its era in a setting it was designed for. The fact that this is not taken in the concrete jungle of a modern airport but on an airstrip in a very natural setting is emphasised by that fence.

The only thing I would do is 'extend' the top of the body in the top left hand corner by cloning out that bit of sky. None of us will ever know that the real line of the body was 'amended'.

Re: DC3 visit to our Southern skies

Originally Posted by arith

Lovely; they sound great as well. I once went up in a DeHavilland Hastings from Lindholme which was like a DC3 but with four engines.

They do sound great - those big Pratt & Whitney radials - although last time I was on one it only sounded half as good as they had to shut down one of the 'noisy things on the wing'. We didn't get to where we were going that day.

Originally Posted by Donald

Steve

A lovely, bright and colourful set. For me, #5 takes the prize. A highly imaginative and effective composition. Love it.

We're left in doubt as to what the the main subject is - we don't need to see all of it. The contrast of the materials, colours and lines of the aircraft against the natural background works beautifully.

At first, I asked myself if the fence was a distraction. But, no it's not. It helps set the scene of an aircraft of its era in a setting it was designed for. The fact that this is not taken in the concrete jungle of a modern airport but on an airstrip in a very natural setting is emphasised by that fence.

The only thing I would do is 'extend' the top of the body in the top left hand corner by cloning out that bit of sky. None of us will ever know that the real line of the body was 'amended'.

Thanks Donald, yes that was one of my favourites as well, good spotting on the sky, I have done as you suggested and I like it. I also desaturated the background a tad to give more emphasis on the aircraft.

Re: DC3 visit to our Southern skies

These are much better than modern airliners; there is an air of excitement around them. Is it going to get over those hills; what an adventure. How much more fun it is to hear the Pratt & Witney struggling to lift its great weight over the top of those hills than a clinical environment of a modern turbo something thing.

The pilots of the Hastings used to do corny jokes, and sit at the back reading a newspaper. All the seats face back and it was really funny the first time they did it, I can remember a glass dome on the top in the navigators bit which I sort of claimed.

Re: DC3 visit to our Southern skies

Brings back a few memory of my Air Force days - we had a DC-3 "dung duster" (DC3 used for aerial fertilizer drops) that operated out of the joint civil/military base I was stationed at. I was working in the control tower at the time and jacked up a ride in the old girl. I don't remember too much except for the old bordon tube guages in the cockpit, and pulling quite a few G whilst he dropped the load. I did hear that their single-engine performance was pretty bad though - so if you lose an engine you'd better hope that the ground below you isn't too high!

Re: DC3 visit to our Southern skies

Originally Posted by colin southern

brings back a few memory of my air force days - we had a dc-3 "dung duster" (dc3 used for aerial fertilizer drops) that operated out of the joint civil/military base i was stationed at. I was working in the control tower at the time and jacked up a ride in the old girl. I don't remember too much except for the old bordon tube guages in the cockpit, and pulling quite a few g whilst he dropped the load. I did hear that their single-engine performance was pretty bad though - so if you lose an engine you'd better hope that the ground below you isn't too high!